Raf Navarro, Sonambulo, Stan Lee's L.A. Comic-Con

This is my latest acquisition, purchased on Saturday at Stan Lee’s L.A. Comic-Con. I bought it from the artist, Raf Navarro. It will be printed in the forth-coming Sonambulo comic. As of yet, it is unpublished, so you’re seeing it here first! 

Cat-Tina, Drinking, StanLeeLAComicCon 2016

I did several commissioned sketches at the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con yesterday. For this one, the client wanted a drawing of a villain, drinking. I said, what about Tina (from the “Bob’s Burgers” TV series I’ve been employed on as a storyboard artist for the past 6 years) as Catwoman. The client went for it.

The client had two sketch books dedicated to collecting sketches; I couldn’t get rid of the paper warp-age.

Blind Bob and Louise, StanLeeLAComicCon 2016

I did several commissioned sketches at the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con yesterday. For this one, the client wanted Bob and Louise, from the “Bob’s Burgers” TV series I’ve been employed on as a storyboard artist for the past 6 years. I asked if he (the client) wanted me to throw in Kuchi Kopi. I had to remind him who(what) Kuchi Kopi was.

Scarlet as Harley Quinn, StanLeeLAComicCon 2016

I did several commissioned sketches at the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con today. This was my first commission of the day; a father wanted a sketch of his 4 year old daughter, Scarlett, decked out as Harley Quinn, as originally envisioned by Bruce Timm for the Batman Animated TV Series. She was super cute, but couldn’t seem to hold still. Dad said he’d been getting sketches of Harley at conventions since she was 2 years old.

Kill Bob, StanLeeLAComicCon 16

I did several commissioned sketches at the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con today. The client wanted Linda, from the “Bob’s Burgers” TV series in which I’ve been employed for the past 6 seasons as a storyboard artist, as the Uma Thurman character from “Kill Bill”. I liked it so much I took a photo of it and cleaned it up and colored it tonight after the con.

Tattoo_Batman & Grendel, StanLeeLAComicCon 16

I will be tabling tomorrow on day three of the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con at the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center. My booth space is in the Comic Bug Pavilion, under the 600 sign, toward the back of the South Hall. The convention is open tomorrow, October 30, between 10 AM and 4 PM. I did several commission sketches today; this is the only one I took a photo of. It’s a tattoo design, intense to wrap around the client’s bicep. After I downloaded the photo, I realized it needed twerking before I could post it. If the client (whose name I didn’t write down) sees the post, contact me and I’ll get him a high rez version.

G.I. Joe/ Duke

This sketch was commissioned  yesterday at the Stan Lee L.A. Comic-Con. The client wanted a drawing of Duke, a character in the G.I. Joe universe. I story boarded on 2 episodes of the G.I. Joe cartoon series back in 2008 or 2009, but I don’t remember that character. I never read the comic book or watched ant episodes in the 80’s or 90’s. The client told me I could do whatever I wanted, so I did this.

Cap Throws A Punch At The L.A. Comic-Con

Hot off the press! Captain America will be at Stan Lee’s L. A. Comic Con, tonight, Friday, October 28, 2016, from 5 PM to 9 PM, tomorrow, Saturday, October 29, from 9 AM (they must be INSANE) to 6 PM, and Sunday, October 30, from 10 AM (much better) to 4 PM. I’ll be there too, manning my table in the Comic Bug Pavillion, selling my published oeuvre, doing commissioned sketches, selling original artwork, and displaying the pre-production artwork for my forthcoming adults-only adult coloring books. Hopefully both Cap and I will see you there!

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 20, 21 & 22

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 20, 21 & 22 of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson. 

I disagreed with Kelly Puckett in his panel descriptions for page 20 (seen in the page as published); it struck me as too easy just to use close-ups of Batman’s fingers counting down.

I drew an alternate version of the page showing a montage of war images illustrating Crenshaw and Batman’s dialogue, and was over-ridden by both writer and editor. Looking at it now, I have to say that panel 5 is pretty cool. It would make a great poster all by itself.

I also really like page 21, panels 1 and 2. Panel 1 is like a perfect moment of frozen time, equivalent to slow motion in cinematic terms.

In panel 2, normal speed returns as Batman subdues Crenshaw.

Unfortunately, in panel 3, the old problem of figures on the floor becoming gigantic returns. -sigh-…

I finished up work on my 3 issues of Batman Adventures in the fall of ’92, just before I returned to storyboarding at Warner Animation on the “Batman: Masque of the Phantasm” feature.I felt that I was red hot, that the world was my oyster as I finished the art for BA #6. I was able to use these comics as spring-boards to my next comics job, illustrating the “The Mark in America” mini-series for Dark Horse Comics. 

AT Center Windows

I’ve been looking at these window on a near-weekly basis since the late 80’s. My friend,  Richard (Jack) Warren recently posted a photograph of AT Center Window 1; I realized I should act on a lingering idea to do a series of Monet-like paintings and drawings of these windows at various times of day and weather conditions. Here are the first 2.

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 18 & 19

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 16 & 17 of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson. 

Re: page 18, panel 1… I don’t remember if the printed version was my idea or the editor’s, Scott Peterson. The thinking was, we have so few scenes of Batman in this story that it would be advantageous to play him up as much as possible. Even so, I have him mostly hidden within his cape.

“The Third Door” was meant to be an Alfred Hitchcock pastiche. One of the interesting things about Hitchcock is the way he manipulates P.O.V. (point of view) and audience identification. In Act 3 of this issue, POV and AI shift to Mr. Crenshaw, the murderer. At this point, the narrative takes on a hallucinatory, dream-like quality. I remember a fan (or the editor) remarking that pages 17 & 18 have the quality of those nightmares where one is fleeing but can’t move fast enough to outpace the inexorably approaching pursuer. The distorted perspective in page 18, panel 2 supports this reading.

Superman Pushes the World, Inktober, October 26, 2016

This is a variation on a theme from a student painting I did of Atlas, kneeling on a mountain peak, holding the floor of Death Valley on his back (it worked equally whichever direction it was displayed). 

This drawing is more inspired by Weisinger era Superman comics, the ones where Steely Man throws planets around like medicine balls. But what would that REALLY have been like? Say, a crowd of people in a park or on a busy city street are treated to the bizarre spectacle of their favorite hero flying out or the sky, landing with his head and shoulders against the grass or pavement, and grimacing as though he were straining hard enough to induce a hernia? (Actually, I’ve done that drawing also but have no idea where it is.)

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 16 & 17

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 16 & 17 of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson. 

I mentioned a few posts back that the Crenshaw mansion’s exterior was borrowed from “North By Northwest. I made several changes; I put the mansion on an oceanside cliff’s edge, I added a third story to enable Bruce’s gymnastic entry into the murder room (though I suppose leaving it at two stories would have worked also, but three felt more dramatic). 

Most importantly for the purposes of this present discussion, I added a double row of cypresses from the front gate to the entrance, along with a ring thereof framing the car port area. The latter allowed me to create foreground elements in page 16, panel 1. The former added compositional perspective to page 17, panel 1, implying that Batman was traveling from the distance to his current position. Anything might have served; I considered adding a collumnade, but the cypresses seemed easier.

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 13, 14, & 15

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 13, 14 & 15 of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson. 

In this 3 page sequence we cross cut between Bruce in his jail cell, trying to piece together the clue he’d seen in the murder room, and Dick, with Mr. Crenshaw in the murder room itself. On each consecutive page the panels in the top tier gradually grow closer until, on panel 15, they are a mere gutter-width apart. This was intended to suggest the weaving together of plot strands until, at the bottom of page 15, the identity of Jacob Brenner becomes clear.

Also, I tried to play up the parallels between the 2 locations, having them mirror each other in the top tier panels. This is especially obvious on page 13, but continues more subtly on all 3 pages. I especially like the top-tier sequence on page 15, where it’s almost as though Bruce and Crenshaw are doing the same gestures, though with opposite hands, and for different reasons. (Note: I probably tried putting the gun in Crenshaw’s right hand, but had to resort to the left for issues of “Eye-Read”, i.e., I wanted the limply held gun-butt in the farthest lower-right corner of the page).

Wonder Woman Kicks Butt, Inktober 102516

Another masterwork from my December 29, 2009 to March 11, 2010 sketchbook, drawn in ball point pen. Someday I’ll work it into a more finished form, though this sketch says it all.

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 13 & 14

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 13 & 14 of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson.

I mentioned, in prior posts of artwork from Batman Adventures #6, that I had difficulty making the characters lying on the floor look the same size as the characters standing nearby. Panels one and two of page 13 are prime examples of this. The best one can say is that the panels work as stylized exaggeration.

Robin Podolsky, Inktober 102416

Robin is one of my oldest friends that I’ve been in continuous contact with, since we met in 1984. At the time, I was a semi-closeted gay man, an aspiring artist struggling to gain the reins of adult life. Robin was an out lesbian, an established poet, a member of the avant-garde Los Angeles art scene. In fact, I met my late husband, John Callahan, at one of her poetry readings. 

Now, more that 30 years later, she’s a Rabbi. How things change, and yet there is appropriate continuity.

"The Third Door", Batman Adventures 6, pages 9, 10, 11, & 12

I’m continuing to post, in serialize fashion, the rough pages, along with the final printed pages (and the original if I have them) to my three issue run on Batman Adventures. Today we’ll look at pages 9, 10, 11 & 12  of Batman Adventures #6, published by DC Comics in March 1993. The Story is called “The Third Door”, and it’s written by Kelly Puckett, pencilled by me, inked by Rick Burchett, colored by Rick Taylor, lettered by Tim Harkins and edited by Scott Peterson.

I call pages 9 through 12 “ The Bruce Wayne Prison Rape Sequence”.

Jail is an inherently dramatic setting; the bars of the cell are easily manipulated for impressive graphic effects that can be used to create frames with frames, especially if one employs a chiaroscuro design strategy. If I may say so, I used all of these elements to great effect here.

As one can guess from observing the differences between the roughs and the printed pages, I did much experimentation and trial-and-error in the layout stage. I ran into contention with both the editor, Scott, and the writer, Kelly. 

I recall a phone conversation with Scott where he blew up at me for not following the script. I kept my cool and was able to talk him down, saying that, as a storyboard artist for TV animation (i.e., a filmmaker), I could do cinematic comics for him in a way that nobody’d ever tried, but needed room to maneuver. He bought it, allowing that his training as an editor came from Denny O’Neil, who was all about the primacy of the script (ironic because Denny rose to fame writing for Neal Adams who was notorious for taking liberties with the writing). Scott said he’d let me play things my way.

Then I had to negotiate with Kelly, who objected to my interpretation of Bruce on page 11/12 (i.e., having Bruce react with outrage to being sucker-punched and having to struggle for self-control after subduing “Brute”. Kelly was a martial artist and insisted that Bruce (a trained martial artist) wouldn’t react angrily. I saw his point but objected to the script, which described Bruce as having to land two blow to take out his assailant. This struck me as overkill, almost bullying on Bruce’s part.

My only regret in this sequence is on page 12, which needs an additional panel between panels 1 and 2 showing the prison guard departing so that Bruce can kick the shit out of “Brute” unobserved. We tried to cover for this by adding a “SLAM” SFX blurb. It’s lame, but sort of works if one is in a forgiving mood.